Third Quarter of 2012 Flyer Available in the Downloads Section

The summer is over and the season of fly-ins with it. GSAI members enjoyed several get-togethers and even got to wear wigs! We've got a few member-submitted tips ranging from an extended baggage compartment to preventing bugs from entering the small, but important holes on your airplane. Sky Smith gives us an update on the insurance markets and Ted Setzer is at it again with modifications.

In this Issue:

GSAI Flight Deck: Group Purchase

Events: Columbia Fly-In 2012, By Arlo Reeves and Chris Wills

Builder Tips: Extended Baggage Compartment, By Lou Nathanson

Member Spotlight: NASA Hall of Fame, By Chris Wills

Destinations: Back-Country Safari, By Alan Negrin

Insurance: Personal Service and Group Experience, By Scott “Sky” Smith

California Dreamin' Fly-In on Oct 6-7, Like Totally, Dude!

Join us at the Tenth Annual Northern California GlaStar & Sportsman Fly-In on October 6-7 in the Gold Country town of Columbia, California, for a little California Dreamin'! Wear your tie-dye, board shorts, and flip-flops!

This is a popular gathering of GlaStars & Sportsmans at one of California's nicest public fly-in facilities. It boasts a sweet airport campground and clubhouse next to a well preserved Gold Rush town. The 30th Annual "Fiddle & Bango and Chili Cook-Off" also takes place in town on Saturday this year. Meet the people that you have talked to on the GlaStarnet and check out some beautiful flying examples of our favorite aircraft. If you need an inspiration ride to get going on your project, we can make that happen too.

Please RSVP to Arlo Reeves by October 1 via e-mail if you plan to attend so that we can have name tags ready for you and your guests. Include the name of each person attending and your aircraft type (GlaStar or Sportsman) and N-number. Do you have any suggestions for a short workshop on the flightline? Do you want to share a special flying story after dinner? We'd love to incorporate that into the program. We are also accepting donations for our raffle prizes; your contribution will help make this ever-popular event even better this year.

We’ve created a Google Map showing several points of interest including several described above. It will answer many questions and provide custom driving directions.

The second quarter of 2012 Flyer is now available in the downloads section!

Erich Häberle flew his Sportsman across the US, then across the Atlantic ocean. His account of the flight is our main feature in this issue.

Mountain flying is a fascinating topic, especially when you have access to the Glastar and Sportsman aircraft that perform beautifully in such terrain, so we follow up on Alan Negrin's Mountain Flying article with articles from Tom Kuffel and Werner Schneider.

The $100 hamburger is passé. Arlo Reeves shows us what he does with his GlaStar.

The first quarter of 2012 Flyer is now available in the downloads section!

Don't miss Alan Negrin's article from the Mountain Flying series. It will keep you out of trouble when MSL and AGL numbers diverge. Follow Marc Cook's advice on how to keep the stress low on the engine and yourself by simplifying power management.

The fourth quarter of 2011 Flyer is now available in the downloads section!

Thinking about an engine? You'll want to read Marc Cook's article describing the latest developments with engines, manufacturers and technology. And, of course, what kind of Flyer would it be without builders' tips?

Glasair has announced a price increase for the TWTT Sportsman, but is offering savings on orders placed by November 30.

Due to increasing parts and raw material costs, Glasair is increasing the Two Weeks to Taxi Sportsman base model prices by $9,000 for 2012. However, they still have a limited number of delivery slots available in the first quarter of 2012 and are offering well-equipped Sportsman (see details below) for $159,999. Standard 2012 pricing for a Sportsman with these features and equipment would total over $190,000.

Note: Orders must be placed by November 30th, 2011 and the aircraft completed in the Two Weeks to Taxi program before March 31st, 2012. Other restrictions apply.

You can also upgrade to a Carbon Fiber Sportsman for $9,999. This is an additional $5,000 discount off current pricing. The "Carbon" Sportsman offers an additional 150 lbs of useful load which increases typical useful load to an incredible 1,150 pounds. The Sportsman is convertible among tricycle, taildragger, float & ski configurations

Lycoming has notified Glasair that the price for an IO-390 engine is increasing from $34,500 to $37,300. An increase of $2,800, or over 8% more than this year's price, and Lycoming's other engine prices are increasing by similar amounts.

Glasair cannot absorb this cost increase and will be increasing the prices of the Two Weeks to Taxi aircraft by an equivalent amount. The good news is that they have a limited number of IO-390 engines due to be delivered by the end of the year. By ordering now for a 1st quarter 2012 Two Weeks to Taxi slot and pre-paying for your engine you will save at least $2,800. Glasair expects similar increases from other suppliers including Hartzell and Garmin, and those will be passed on to our customers as well.

Excerpts from a short flight with John Lake in his GlaStar N484VMby Arlo Reeves

Video and editing: Arlo Reeves
Recorded on 10/1/2011 in Columbia, CA, at the 9th Annual Northern California GlaStar Fly-In.
Music: "Ricochet" by the David Grisman Quintet.

John Lake wanted to fly out and see a little of Melones reservoir on Saturday afternoon. It was getting time to be opening a beer, but if you're going to do any flying before the festivities, well, late afternoon is a fine time for it. Chris Wills went up around the same time in his bright red Sportsman with Mike Meier. I found out last year on a similar flight with Michael Moss that the light at this time of day is very good, too.

The Sierra foothills around Columbia can be very warm in the summer by October the temperatures are very nice and we had sunny, warm-but-not-too-hot weekend there this year. The campground area is behind the row of aircraft seen on depature. While most of them are GlaStars or Sportsmen, some campers were not there for the fly-in.

As we taxi out, you can see a gaggle of folks around Dave Ammenti's Sportsman. Dave has spent hours with admirers of his beautiful Sportsman, patiently answering every question. John gives the group a wave with his door as we pass, but I'm noticing how little forward visibility there is with his large 8.5 tires. The windscreen crossbars provide an excellent hand hold for lifting yourself up to improve over the glare shield visibility. John's GlaStar is a TD with an O-360, a Hartzell prop, and a P-mag. We were pretty light and it had plenty of giddy up as you can tell by our climbout off the grass runway that parallels the campground area. He has a VFR panel with a Dynon D-10A, a Garmin GPSMAP296, IC-A200 comm radio, and a GRT engine monitor. The Dynon has the AOA option and displays an AOA chevron that John relies on more than his ASI when slow. That's what he's describing to me on downwind. He's very comfortable in the plane and can put it where he wants.

John commented that the Clarity aloft headset was initially purchased for flying at work but he found it was very comfortable on long Glastar trips while wearing hat and glasses. It greatly improves the clarity of radio transmissions and provides excellent noise attenuation. Over the years he's spent 1000s of dollars in search of the perfect headset. So far Clarity Aloft is his favorite.

The video was shot with a Canon T2i (550D) using a 15-85mm lens at 15mm in 1080 30p mode using auto exposure. It was brought into Final Cut Pro 7 on my Mac and stabilized with the SmoothCam filter. I backed off on the magnification so you can see the black edges of the frame wobble around a bit. Also, since the exposure mode was auto, the shutter speed was slow and you can see some blurring when it gets bumpy. It could use a little editing, but I actually found I liked the uninterrupted cut from downwind to shutdown better and just left it.